The mayoral succession has been dragging on for nearly a year now, ever since the mayor who was ( “I’m not going anywhere” ) jumped at the chance to become the Status Cuomo’s second banana. And those negotiations had been going on for months before the announcement!

As a result, we have seen glimpses of what really goes on in city government among Rochester’s power brokers. While enlightening, it isn’t flattering. If anything, it makes Richards’ candidacy for mayor look more like a scam, a scheme and a plot. Throw in his resignation and a couple of lawsuits, this would provide sufficient material for a B-grade tv movie. It could very easily be titled “The Theory and Practice of Chaos.”

Hopefully, tomorrow should provide an end to the chaos provided by the professional politicians and their hangers on. Mind you, some people will never regard this “special election” and its results as being legal, but that is the by-product of our government muddling it. Just like methane is a by-product of pig droppings.

Recapping the candidates, we have two Democrats ( Richards and Johnson ) and the Green Party’s Alex White as the major contenders. Richards and Johnson’s campaigns have been devoted to insulting each other without providing any insight into what they really can or will do to improve Rochester. Both are respresentatives of failed administrations. Each are correct about the failings of the others’ administrations, which suggests that neither are good candidates! Richards represents Rochester’s current crop of polititcal elites and big business interests ( the status quo ), with no apparent improvements for the future. Johnson represents the status quo ante Duffy, those wishing to get back into power again, the unions. And while Richards might boast about having Rochester’s black political leadership on his side, Johnson might just as easily boast that he has the black community’s rank and file on his!

Those two candidates look to Rochester’s past failed policies with no innovations for the future. Exquisite exaples of entropy!

Only Alex White has a real programme and solutions for the future. And White talks about what he can do with our support, not what has already been tried, and found wanting, like Richards and Johnson do.

Oh, well. There are thousands born every minute.

Tomorrow, Rochesterians will have their say: more of the same, worn-out programs or hopes of a better future with White as mayor.

Let’s face it: truth in advertising laws simply do NOT apply to political campaigns!

Today, I had the dubious “pleasure” of seeing a campaign advertisement for Tom Richards on television. It seems that in the few minutes he was something-mayor of Rochester, Richards has put us on the doorstep of Paradise or Nirvana! This was reinforced by a cameo appearance of the mayor who was!

A pity that none of it is true!

My favorite part of the advertisement was when a lady trilled “Just look at Midtown! A thousand new jobs there!”

Only there aren’t a thousand new jobs there. Not yet, anyway. That will supposedly happen in the future. Much of it will be dependent upon loans secured by the taxpayers of our fair city, as well as money that will come outright out of the taxpayers’ pockets. And that Paetec business was the jewel in the crown of the mayor who was, not Tom Richards. At best, Richards can only be guilty by reason of association with the mayor who was.

The same goes for all the other claims on this advertisement! Usually, people are paid to endorse products that they don’t believe in. I don’t know if that was the case here.

Really! I know that political campaigns feature outlandish exaggerations of the truth. But in this ad, any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental. I didn’t know whether to laugh, snicker or cry! Unless, of course, we are talking about a Rochester in a parallel universe, not our own.

Most of us who live in Rochester know that when government sticks its nose into offering financial support, subsidies and sweetheart deals into creating businesses, they fail.

At least, those of us who aren’t in government know that! Our professional politicians, elected officials and their hangers-on simply haven’t got a clue. Yet.

Oh, sure, it IS and election year ( of sorts ), and various mayoral wannabees are talking about such practices. Like ex-mayor Johnson, responsible for the expensive High Falls and Fast Ferry fiascoes. And ex-something-mayor Richards who, while not personally responsible for Pier 45, is a relict of the administration of the mayor who was, and claims he will continue that man’s work and “visions.”

Pier 45 is a restaurant that rose upon the ruins of the disastrous Fast Ferry. In a sense, it is a continuation of that sad saga, complete with red ink on its books, which city and Convention Center documents ( with whom Pier 45 is linked ) did NOT reveal their losses!

Funny, that. Or is it?

In its first 20 months of operation, Pier 45 has had losses of perhaps $400,000 that we currently know about! This after significant financial support from local government ( you and me ). That’s bad enough.

Most independent business owners know that they will have to bite the bullet for a couple of years before making a profit. But they are expected to cover their losses themselves and do what it takes to stay in business on their own! But the infusion of public monies into a “private” venture and still showing a loss is an insult to taxpayers!

Worse still, Pier 45 has lots of other government provided advantages not given to other neighborhood restaurants and businesses. Pier 45 pays the city ( you and me ) $1.00 for rent ( ! ), while the city pays for heat, electricity, water, sewage, trash removal and maintenance, as well as providing free parking. Even worse, Pier 45 is linked to the non-profit Rochester Convention Center Management Corporation, which is subsidized by city and county taxpayers to the tune of $1.5 million a year! As such, Pier 45 pays no income taxes and no sales tax on supplies!

Which should make the owners of Windjammers and the Char Pit feel all warm and fuzzy inside: they are helping to subsidize this city-sponsored competition to their own businesses while paying their own bills out of their own pockets!

Frankly, it is a crock. Business people in Charlotte and the rest of the city have been complaining about this situation for a long time, but it is only making big news NOW!

Why is that?

Why, because it provides campaign fodder for the candidates in our mayoral ”special election.” And even some of the complaints there are bogus!

Ex-mayor Johnson is notorious for such deals. His complaints about Pier 45, though apt, should be taken into consideration with a grain of salt, if not the whole shaker.

Ex-something-mayor Richards was corporate counsel for the administration of the mayor who was, which put together this deal. He should have known better.

Only Alex White, a small businessman, has any reason to complain. He is representative of the people such actions have hurt and frustrated, while keeping the wolf away from the door on their own. But White isn’t a professional politician who has made a career of tap dancing around such issues, leaving the taxpayers to pay the piper for their failures.

Johnson and Richards, simply put, have no shame.

Personally, I never visited Pier 45 simply because as I already knew I was paying for it, I didn’t wish to pay for it twice by giving it my custom. Better my patronage should go to hard-working owners of businesses NOT on the public dole.

But Pier 45 is the latest stunning example of what government SHOULDN’T do, but does time and time again, expressing amazement that failed policies continue to fail.

Which is what we can expect from Johnson and Richards. What IS clear is that Johnson and Richards are very much like the Bourbon kings of France, who were briefly restored to the French throne after the fall of Napoleon: they had forgotten nothing, and they had learned nothing.

If nothing else, the departure of the mayor who was has taught us that Rochester’s city charter is hopelessly flawed in regards to the mayoral succession. We don’t “elect” the deputy mayor on a ticket along with the mayor. The deputy mayor is appointed by the mayor in office. Nor does the deputy mayor automatically succeed to the crown for the remainder of a departing mayor’s term. Under the city charter, the best a deputy mayor can hope for is to temporarily occupy the throne as acting mayor ( until a “special election” ) or as interim mayor until a real election during the regular election cycle.

Unless, of course, they choose to run for mayor, which isn’t expressly forbidden in the city charter, either, which is what is sort of happening here!

Generally, deputy mayors are nonentities whose function is to fill in when the mayor is out of town, “indisposed,” or similarly occupied elsewhere. Only the peculiar conditions that occurred vis a vis the long awaited departure of the mayor who was actually made the position of deputy mayor more important than it usually is.

For instance, then deputy mayor Malgieri announced her resignation months before the election last November. Everyone had expected the victory of the Status Cuomo and the departure of the mayor who was. But, despite all the praise that had been heaped upon Malgieri for her performance as deputy mayor, Rochester’s Democratic Political Machine was casting about for someone else to succeed the mayor who was on a more-or-less permanent basis. So when Malgieri’s resignation became effective ( on election day ), Tom Richards was appointed deputy mayor.

Weeks before, in order to fulfill the legal requirement for the mayoral succession, that an elected Democrat be succeeded by a Democrat, Richards registered as a Democrat.

Richards also made it quite clear that he refused to be appointed “interim” mayor, and would run only in a “special election,” which he expected to be rigged by Rochester’s Democratic Political Machine in his favor. Richards and the Democratic Political Machine feared the outcome of a Democratic primary that would take place before a real election in November.

So, on New Year’s Day, in a small, private ceremony at City Hall, Richards was sworn in. As what? The city charter states that the deputy mayor shall act as mayor. Does the acting mayor have to be sworn in? But Richards never appointed a deputy mayor, either.

Richards didn’t fear third party candidates from challenging him. Unfortunately, the re-emergence of ex-mayor Johnson and Green Party candidate Alex White heated things up, as well as did a couple of lawsuits and a pesky annoyance called the Hatch Act. When Richards resigned ( as what ), there was no deputy mayor to act as mayor until the “special election.” So, using the “emergency clause” in the city charter, Rochester’s city council appointed Carlos Carballada as ( temporary emergency acting ) mayor, which prompted yet another lawsuit.

Currently, there IS no deputy mayor.

And with the battle to win the crown coming to its end in ten days, is there any hint from the candidates who their choices for second banana will be? No, only silence. And have we, the “little people,” even given it much thought? We’ve seen in less than six months how troublesome the position of deputy mayor can be to the body politic of Rochester.

Doubtless, the choices have already been made. Richards and Johnson are just too frightened to say who their deputy mayors will be. It might be too dangerous for them to say at this juncture, that it might smack of political deals that this “special election” seems all too full of. It might even send some of their supporters into the arms of their opposition, since politics always makes for strange bedfellows.

The “golden rule” of politics is: he with the most gold will end up making the rules.

This has always been true. Even when the political system is “democratic” ( which is always a relative term ).

Election campaigns cost money. Lots of it. Campaign warchests pay for television and radio announcements to overwhelm potential voters with their propaganda, most of which is pure balderdash. Campaign warchests pay for mailers to do the same job. Lawnsigns spring up everywhere, a good many of them illegally placed on public land. These never to seem to get removed after an election, leaving them to the elements and becoming ever so much litter.

T-shirts, buttons, bumper-stickers, pens and pencils are all part of the election “strategy.” Which quickly become labeled as “junk” after the election.

All of this costs money. Lots of it. All of this has to do with “winning” an election, not the issues involved.

And all of this limits the number of people who can mount an effective election campaign of propaganda. Only the wealthy ( who choose not to use their own money ) or those able to pry cash loose from “supporters” ( i.e., special interests ) for the promise of something in return are supposed to play the game.

So much for “democracy.”

The revelation that ex-mayor Johnson and ex-something mayor Richards have evenly matched warchest shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. Both are professional politicians; they have built up large bases of support while making a mess of Rochester, which everyone seems to ignore. Or at least have forgotten about. Both rely heavily on special interests for that support: Johnson upon the unions, Richards upon big business. Those groups have huge slush funds to distribute to the candidates of their liking. They hope to buy the next mayor who, in turn, will support their interests.

Of course, it is these same special interest groups who complain about how bad the economy is getting while having no problem mustering up tens of thousands of dollars to support the candidates of their choice. It is the cost of doing business, of selling and buying a product!

The rest of us, the “little people,” are supposed to go along with that. After all, in the theory of “predestination,” the “elect” have proven themselves worthy of salvation by their successfulness and their connections in life. These elites, therefore, should be allowed to be dominant in life no matter how bewildered we are by their actions and their obvious failures.

So, who represents the “little man?” Certainly not Johnson or Richards!

Well, there is another candidate: Alex White.

White does NOT have a huge warchest. His campaign funding has come from the “little men” ( you and me ) who can’t afford to buy the influence of elitist politicians, who are already in the pocket of the wealthy special interests. White is a small businessman, like thousands in Rochester who have been screwed over by our professional politicians, but hasn’t thrown in the towel and departed for the suburbs.

White has relied upon contributions from people like you and me, in many cases only a few dollars, unlike the the thousands received by Richards and Johnson. But at least White is out there pitching! Hopefully, people will notice that, too.

Calm and deliberate, White at least represents the interests of the city of Rochester for the future. Unlike Richards’ smugness or the chaotic shrillness of Johnson, both of whom are intent upon reciting polished misrepresentations of the facts ( and both of whom have failed ), White is at least a breath of fresh air in the body politic of Rochester.

But because he doesn’t represent the elites of the status quo or the status quo ante Duffy, White doesn’t have the political warchest of those other two, the professional politicians that plague our government.

Hopefully, voters will realize that. Hopefully “the people” will realize who and what are financing the campaigns of Johnson and Richards, and whom they will owe in return.

If anyone is bothering to pay any attention at all to the mayoral debates for the “special election” this year, one thing should be very apparent: two of the three major candidates ( i.e., those backed by a party ) haven’t been saying anything new at all. New Democrat ex-something-mayor Tom Richards and Old Democrat running as an Independent ex-mayor Bill Johnson sound as though they have reprinted speeches from previous mayoral campaigns, having only changed the dates. After all, Richards is a relict from the administration of the mayor who was and Johnson was a mayor for three terms before that. So, if the rhetoric worked before, why change it?

Certainly their claims about Rochester’s place in a brave new world are dangerously outdated and nostalgic. THAT world has long since vanished here.

The only weapons each of them have is the failures of the administrations they have represented or headed. This is fine for campaign slogans, but hardly provide any positive examples of what they will be able to do for a Rochester in a state of decline. In fact, neither of these professional politicians have provided any insight into solutions that will put our fair city back on an even keel.

With that in mind, all we are left with is Johnson’s twelve years of costly failures and Richards as a holdover from the mayor who was, whose administration was starting to unravel before he left.

And both are nominally “Democrats.” Richards by his recent “conversion” in order to become deputy mayor and then mayor in an uncontested election ( sort of like people changing their religion in order to acquire a crown without any real conviction, as the Protestant Henry IV of France did when he said “Paris is worth the Mass!” ). Johnson is only running as an Independent because he didn’t win the nomination at the Democratic convention. ( See above. )

“Everything old is new again!” Including big business backing Richards, and the unions backing Johnson. Which means, if either of them get into office, the winner will end up owing someone something. And that “someone” is not us. Sigh.

But nostalgia and fine words are no substitute for any definite policies to regroup and rebuild Rochester, or to prevent its further decline. And neither of these professional politicians have any such plans or policies, at least none that they are willing or daring to make public.

Lest we forget, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. And both Richards and Johnson are counting on the short attention span of the voters.

Yet Alex White, the Green Party candidate, has such solutions. White has recognized that the twentieth century is long since over and with it the huge industrial complexes that provided much of Rochester’s wealth, prestige and power. Effective remedies to lower the cost of energy. Lowering fees, taxes and restrictions on small local businesses to induce them to stay in the city and help them grow and thrive. Less wasteful spending of public monies on projects that are ultimately doomed to failure, but footed by the taxpayers.

In short, White clearly sees that Rochester can be prosperous and a well running city, but not at the levels of some sixty years ago. Those days are gone for good, as is more than forty percent of Rochester’s population, which puts one Hell of a strain on the tax base of those who remain here. Which means us.

And White isn’t a professional politician, whose lack of such insight has put us in the mess we are in now. Which also means that he doesn’t have the huge financial support of those special interest groups that are not particularly concerned about good government for the rest of us. Only that they might somehow survive and thrive during these tough economic times.

While White may not be as polished a speaker as Richards and Johnson ( and they have had years to perfect their acts ), his message is a clear one: let’s move on into the future. Richards and Johnson can only relate to the past. But only too many people are afraid of the future, and are willing to endure the “comfortable” smell of mothballs rather than try on a new set of clothes with a different cut.

Oh, well. At least White’s message is different from the others’. THAT’S a refreshing change.

It’s only a couple of weeks until the “special election” takes place. And we will see if people will buy the status quo ante Duffy ( Johnson ), the status quo ( Richards ), both of which failed, or the future ( White ). And then there will be peace and quiet. Maybe.

Contributors

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Rich Gardner has been writing about the history, culture and waterways of Upstate New York for years. His articles have appeared in U.S. and Canadian publications, and one book, Learning to Walk. He is an alumnus of Brighton High School and SUNY Geneseo. He operates Upstate Resume & Writing Service in Brighton and recently moved to Corn Hill, where he is already involved in community projects. "I enjoy the 'Aha!' moments of learning new things, conceptual and literal. City living is a great teacher."

Ken Warner grew up in Brockport and first experienced Rochester as a messenger boy for a law firm in Midtown Tower. He recently moved downtown into a loft on the 13th floor of the Temple Building with a view of the Liberty Poll and works in the Powers Building overlooking Rochester’s four corners as Executive Director for UNICON, an organization devoted to bringing economic development to the community. He hopes to use his Rochester Blog to share his observations from these unique views of downtown.